Tag Archives: Military Drills

South Korea, U.S. begin large-scale annual drills amid North Korea tension

South Korean policemen and soldiers stand guard at a golf course owned by Lotte, where the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system will be deployed, in Seongju, South Korea, March 1, 2017. Kim Joon-beom/Yonhap via REUTERS

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korean and U.S. troops began large-scale joint military exercise on Wednesday conducted annually to test their defense readiness against the threat from North Korea, which routinely characterizes the drills as preparation for war against it.

The exercise, called Foal Eagle, comes amid heightened tension following the latest test launch of a ballistic missile by the North on Feb. 12 and in the past prompted threats by Pyongyang to launch military action in retaliation.

South Korea’s Defense Ministry and the U.S. military based in the South confirmed the start of the drills on Wednesday that will continue until the end of April but did not immediately provide further details.

The exercise last year involved about 17,000 American troops and more than 300,000 South Koreans.

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis spoke with South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-Koo early on Wednesday by telephone and said the United States remains steadfast in its commitment to the defense of its ally.

Mattis welcomed a deal signed by South Korea with the Lotte Group conglomerate this week to secure the land to station the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system in the South, the two countries said.

South Korea has said it and the United States aim to make the system, which the two countries decided last year to deploy in response to the North Korean missile threat, operational by the end of the year.

Han said in the phone call with Mattis that this year’s joint drills will be conducted at a similar scale as last year’s, which the South’s Defense Ministry had called the “largest-ever” exercises by the allies.

North Korea’s official KCNA news agency said earlier on Wednesday its leader Kim Jong Un inspected the headquarters of a major military unit and issued guidance on increasing combat readiness.

(Reporting by Jack Kim and Ju-min Park in Seoul and Phil Stewart in Washington; Editing by Michael Perry)

China wraps up exercise with three warships in South China Sea

Chinese vessels in South China Sea

BEIJING (Reuters) – Three Chinese warships on Friday wrapped up a week of scheduled training exercises in the South China Sea, state media said, shortly after China’s sole aircraft carrier tested its weapons in the disputed region.

The flotilla of warships, including a destroyer that can launch guided missiles, had been conducting drills since Friday last week and were now sailing to the eastern India Ocean and the Western Pacific, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

Exercises by the Chinese ships, in particular the aircraft carrier Liaoning, in recent months have unnerved its neighbors, especially given long-running territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

The training included sudden attack drills and had been carried out successfully in poor sea conditions, Xinhua said.

The drills were “without an arranged script” and “as close as possible to real combat”, military affairs expert Yin Zhuo told the state broadcaster China Central Television.

Regular exercises by the Chinese navy in the high seas were an “unchangeable trend”, Yin said, though he added that China’s long-range naval capabilities were not sufficient to secure its interests in open waters. He did not elaborate.

China on Wednesday warned the United States against challenging its sovereignty in the South China Sea after reports that the United States was planning fresh naval patrols in the region.

The United States has criticized China’s construction of man-made islands and its build-up of military facilities in the sea, and expressed concern they could be used to restrict free movement. The U.S. navy has conducted several “freedom of navigation” patrols through the waters.

China claims most of the South China Sea, while Taiwan, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Brunei claim a portion of the waters that command strategic sea lanes and have rich fishing grounds as well as with oil and gas deposits.

China says it is committed to freedom of navigation through the waters.

(Reporting by Christian Shepherd; Editing by Robert Birsel)

Philippines says finalizing deal to observe Russian military drills

Philippines President with Russian Ambassador

MANILA (Reuters) – The Philippines is finalizing a security deal with Russia allowing the two countries’ leaders to exchange visits and observe military drills, a minister said on Monday, at the same time assuring the United States that ties with Moscow will not affect its alliance with its traditional ally.

Two Russian warships made port calls in Manila last week with President Rodrigo Duterte touring an anti-submarine vessel, saying he hoped Moscow would become his country’s ally and protector.

Duterte has thrown the future of Philippine-U.S. relations into question with angry outbursts against the United States, a former colonial power, and some scaling back of military ties while taking steps to improve relationships with China and Russia.

In October, Duterte told U.S. President Barack Obama to “go to hell” and said the United States had refused to sell some weapons to his country but he did not care because Russia and China were willing suppliers.

He is due to go to Moscow in April. The visit by the Russian warships was the first official navy-to-navy contact between the two countries.

“We will observe their exercises,” Philippine Defence Minister Delfin Lorenzana told reporters during the military’s traditional New Year’s call at the main army base in Manila.

“If we need their expertise, then we will join the exercises. That’s the framework of the memorandum of understanding that is going to be signed. It could be a joint exercises but, initially, its going to be exchange of visits.”

Lorenzana assured Washington the military agreement with Moscow would not allow rotational deployment of Russian troops, planes and ships in Manila for mutual defense.

“It’s not similar to the U.S. which is a treaty, Mutual Defence Treaty, which mandates them to help us in case we’re attacked,” he said. “We wont have that with Russia. The MOU is about exchange of military personnel, visits and observation of exercises.”

He said the Philippines also expected a team of Russian security experts to visit to discuss the sale of new weapons systems.

Last month, Duterte sent his foreign and defense ministers to Moscow to discuss arms deals after a U.S. senator said he would block the sale of 26,000 assault rifles to the Philippines due to concern about a rising death toll in a war on drugs launched by Duterte.

(Reporting by Manuel Mogato; Editing by Nick Macfie)

China and Russia Hold Joint Military Drills

China is inviting Russia to join them for a series of military drills in the Sea of Japan.

The action comes amid the United States working with allies throughout the Asian region to counter Beijing’s aggressive moves to claim more waters in the South and East China Seas as “territorial waters” despite the waters being claimed by other nations.

The exercises will happen at the end of August and will happen both at the Russian port city of Vladivostok and in the South China Sea according to Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun.

“[The] purpose of the exercise is to consolidate and develop the China-Russia all-round strategic coordination partnership, to deepen the pragmatic and friendly cooperation between the Chinese and Russian militaries, and to enhance the organization and command capabilities and the levels of the two militaries in jointly conducting the joint traffic defense activities and joint landing activities, so as to further enhance their capabilities of jointly coping with maritime security threats,” Yujun said.

The exercises will include anti-submarine and anti-ship targeting with Chinese fighter jets, frigates, destroyers and supply vessels.  The Russians will send ships, subs and fixed wing aircraft.  Both will send marines and helicopters.

The two nations have already held joint naval exercises in the Mediterranean Sea.